Reddit’s new mobile UI is rolling out, and users hate the navigation changes

Reddit has recently rolled out a new UI, and there are major changes for both the iOS and Android apps. The reception has been negative to mixed, since menus that people used to access on a daily basis now require multiple actions. Decluttering the UI often leads to extra steps, and this is one such case.

The UI updates the navigation and search bar, and there’s a glowing orange bar at the top now. The search bar is a lot bigger now as well. The options at the bottom of the navigation bar have also been reduced, and you can no longer swipe back and forth between feeds. The location of Saved items has now changed as well. Profile and notifications cannot be accessed unless you scroll all the way to the top. The header is also no longer fixed.

With enlarged cards/full-width posts and auto-expanding images, the feed shows less information per screen than the older compact list view, which many users find slower to browse.

I can confirm these changes personally, since I got the new UI on both Android and iOS. The layout changes randomly for many people as well, leading to a frustrating experience. The new inbox makes users confused about the location of notifications as well.

However, for some people, there were random reversals. It’s worth mentioning that there’s no official way to revert to the old UI once you’ve got the new one, but the old UI randomly comes back for some people. This is likely a temporary glitch, and the new one will eventually return. If you’re on Android, you can try grabbing an APK file from a reliable source, but that might not work since this change doesn’t appear to be tied to a specific version number and is instead a server-side release.

Layout switching indicates that Reddit is currently A/B testing, and it’s a phased rollout. Not all accounts will get the update at once. Alongside this UI update, Reddit has made other changes. Access to r/all has been removed from the main navigation, and r/popular is harder to reach.

Reddit recently patched a long-standing loophole that allowed users to view hidden posts from accounts. Not only have their changes lately been unpopular, but people allege that the company is forcing people to pay for ads as well.

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